Bahrain makes dominant start

TDT | Manama                                          

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Dominant Bahrain made a rampant winning start yesterday to their Asian Men’s Qualification campaign for the men’s handball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

The Kingdom’s senior men’s national handball team romped past their counterparts from Kazakhstan 46-18 in their opening Group B match of the preliminary stage in the Doha competition.

The Bahrainis went on a 12-1 run early in the first half to build a commanding, double-digit lead heading into the break, and they never looked back. The nationals are now hoping to continue their triumphant ways when they return to the playing court against Japan today for their second Group B assignment, scheduled for a 5pm throw-off at Duhail Handball Sports Hall at the Qatari capital.

Bahrain are aiming to qualify for their second successive Olympics, after making their historic debut at the Tokyo Olympiad held in 2021. It was not only the national team’s first time competing in the men’s handball tournament at any Olympic Games, but it was also the Kingdom’s maiden appearance in any team sport at the Olympics.

In yesterday’s contest, Bahrain used a scintillating 12-1 run to turn a 2-2 deadlock at the start to a commanding 14-3 advantage with just over 12 minutes remaining in the half. The nationals continued their strong play and took a comfortable 23-6 advantage into the break.

Over the final 30 minutes, the Bahrainis didn’t take their foot off the gas and went ahead by as many as 29 goals, following a Mohammed Hameed Rabia conversion with four minutes left on the game clock. Ali Eid was then last to score for Bahrain to peg the final result and the 28-goal winning margin.

Leading scorer Rabia finished as the nationals’ leading scorer with seven goals in the game. Eid and Ahmed Redha both finished with six goals apiece, while Mujtaba Al Zaimour put in a fine performance with five goals. Hassan Al Samaheeji contributed four, while Hassan Shehab, Qassim Qambar and Ahmed Fadhel each had three goals.

Hassan Madan, Ali Mirza, Hassan Mirza and Mohammed Habib Nasser all scored twice; while Mohammed Habib Ahmed finished with one goal to round off Bahrain’s scorers. Dauren Tilekkabyl paced Kazakhstan with four goals, while Arytom Melnichenko and Konstantin Milyayev had three apiece.

Bahrain, Kazakhstan and Japan are in Group B of the preliminaries along with Iran and Kuwait. Group A features Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the UAE, India and China. Following their match today against Japan, tomorrow will be a rest day. Bahrain only return to action on Sunday against Kuwait, and then after another rest day, complete the preliminaries against Iran on 24 October.

At the end of a single round-robin, the top two teams from the two groups advance to the semi-finals, which are scheduled for Thursday next week. The final and game for third place will then be held on the qualifiers’ concluding day of action on 28 October. Only the winners of the Asian Men’s Qualification tournament clinch a direct berth in next year’s men’s handball competition at the Paris Olympics.

The runners-up from Doha will get another chance to book their tickets, but must compete against other top handball nations from around the world in one of three Olympic qualifying events. These are set to be held in March of next year with 12 national teams in the fray.